‘Corner Gas: The Movie’ Kickstarter passes its $100,000 goal in a day

TORONTO – A Kickstarter campaign for the “Corner Gas” movie has surpassed its $100,000 goal in just over 24 hours.

The campaign on the crowdfunding website had reached more than $120,000 by midday Wednesday, after opening Tuesday morning.

“Corner Gas: The Movie” is set to hit theatres in December.

The movie is fully funded with an $8 million budget, including taxpayer funds from Telefilm Canada.

The Kickstarter campaign set a goal of reaching $100,000 in 30 days. Fans could pay as little as $5 for a copy of the script and as much as $6,000 for a speaking role or $8,000 for a private premiere in a local theatre.

Butt has said the goal of the Kickstarter campaign is to give fans a chance to participate in the movie-making process.

“We thought, ‘How can we give people who are really committed fans to Corner Gas (something) that the regular person on the street isn’t going to get? How can we kind of reward that series-long cultish fanbase?’ We wanted to give them something exclusive,” he said.

“At the same time, it’s always pricey to make a movie and you’ve got to cut corners at certain places. There were a couple places where we thought it would be great to have a few extra bucks to ramp up the special effects.”

Filmmakers say most of the $100,000 will pay for the fan rewards, while any remaining funds will go toward improving production values.

Kickstarter is a crowdfunding website that allows people to donate to projects, often in exchange for rewards. Its stated purpose is to be a “new way to fund creative projects,” big and small, but it is often used by independent or first-time creators who do not have access to traditional financing.

Butt said he expected to face some criticism for using Kickstarter, but he knew the fans would embrace it.

“Corner Gas” was a runaway hit for CTV when it first aired in 2004. The comedy, about a gas station owner and friends in a fictional Saskatchewan town, garnered 3 million viewers for its series finale in 2009.